Dvořák - Isaac Stern, Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra - Violin Concerto / Romance For Violin And Orchestra FLAC album

in my opinion, and I've heard more than a couple of versions, Stern and Ormandy give here a definitive account - vehement in the first, passionate in the second movement, and, with a sizzling couple of tempi to round things off. The 'cello concerto on the other side is worth a listen, too, but, many mistake the Violin Concerto as a Romantic piece - for these players, it is one of those rare finds - a psycho-active piece, belonging more to Modernism, or at least, politicisation, much like Beethoven in his fifth. I have heard Perlman, and, he can't carry the finale off - I have heard Little, and, she's loose with the first movement, which must dazzle, then disappear just as it is about to repeat it. In effect, the emotion has moved quicker than the structure, and, there is nothing more to say, so a continuation would be pointless - for this to work, the soloist must play as if they are thinking it will be a full sonata movement, loaded at the end with what the soloist wants to say. This, he never gets to say, because the game is over too quick. This is the reason the slow movement is so rhapsodic, but still not fulfilling the soloist's emotional needs - hence the 'blaring tantrum' motif - which are changed by the 'cat on a hot tin roof' tempo the finale begins with, because - structural convention dictates that wherever the soloist is, in portrayal of his or her feelings, when the slow movement ends, the finale starts 'dancingly.' This recording has the definitive finale. Sorry, point of correction: it used to be coupled with Rose/Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra, on Sony Classics.